Official Game Thread: Hawks at Celtics (NBA Cup Group C Game 1)

[lethalweapon3]

“Here at the NBA, after an exhaustive search, we’re proud to introduce our new Chief of All-Star Health and Conditioning!”

 

Whoop-dee-darn-do, it’s Cup Night! And all the NBA’s stars are rarin’ to go, tradin’ paint in the Chase for the Cup!

Or not.

Tidbitting this bad boy ahead of tonight’s game in Boston (7 PM Eastern, FanDuel Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Boston), since you’re more likely to find a prominent NBA player as an extra on the set of St. Elsewhere than at TD Garden.

Before I forget again, a belated salute to our U.S. Veterans out there in Squawkland. We’re not able to squawk about much of anything without your sacrifices, past and present.

Trae Young joins the usual suspects of Hawks on the Injury List, with Achilles tendinitis suffered last year while rassling with DeMar DeRozan to be first to a button in a schmancy Vegas casino elevator. Boston counters, “You sit your All-Star? Well, maybe we sit one of ours, how do you like that?”

The Celtics’ Jayson Tatum (team-highs of 28 points, 6 D-Rebs and 9 assists @ ATL on Nov. 4) had 23 second-half points on Sunday, as Boston walked down the Bucks in Milwaukee and stuck it to former coach Doc Rivers. Having sprained an ankle while landing on The Greek Elf’s foot on a corner-three shot, Tatum is likely to tag-out tonight in favor of Jaylen Brown, after the latter sat out of last week’s 123-93 blowout win in Atlanta due to a strained hip flexor. Mid-sized Al? Yep, Horford is also listed as questionable. That pesky sprained big toe, they say.

Boston coach Joe Mazzulla may thin his rotation even more, with a trip to division-rival Brooklyn apparently taking precedence over ensuring the pursuit of the NBA’s in-season cup qualification gets off to a surefire start. For Atlanta (4-7, 11^th but 1.5 GB 3^rd-place IND in NBA Least), that ought to be good news.

Losing games to the Pistons, Bulls and Wizards is perfectly fine these days. It’s the Leastern Conference, after all! All that Atlanta needs to do to make up for each loss-while-they-should-be-favored is to upend a Celtics/Knicks/Healthy Sixers/Sane heat/Mature Bucks team when the occasion calls for it. There remains reason for Atlanta to go 1-0 in Cup play even without their flagship bucket creator.  

It’s not as if Young (2 points, 1-for-10 FGs, 6 assists and 3 TOs in 23 truncated minutes) was particularly useful in the first Celtics-Hawks meeting. Further, Atlanta, visibly gassed in the second-half on Saturday while losing their SEGABABA versus the rested Bulls, finally had a pair of off-days prior to this contest, and another pair before the Wizards rematch back home on Friday, granting the Hawks who do suit up a decided rest advantage over the C’s (BOS’s 1^st off-day pair comes after tomorrow’s Nets game).

So I am as ready as anyone for The Keaton Wallace Show. The Rookie Roadrunner needs to get his assists up and his perimeter shot reignited (7 steals, 5 assists in past 5 bench appearances; 1-for-7 3FGs after sinking 6 of his first 10). But if he can draw trips to the charity stripe, he’s as sure a free throw shot (84.6 FT%) as any of the active Hawks.

Defensively, Wallace (4 steals and 2 blocks in 20 minutes vs. BOS on Nov. 4) on Jrue Holiday capably allows Dyson Daniels to maintain his disruptive focus on Brown and the Celtics’ array of wings and sharpshooters. Forcing turnovers, limiting transition runouts to the corners, and helping secure defensive boards will keep Garrison Mathews, Junior Nance and the Hawks from having to engage in a three-point shootout in order to contend with Boston (18-for-55 3FGs on Nov. 4, vs. ATL’s 6-for-31) tonight.

When we wind up with Wizards-Jazz in the NBA Cup Finals next month due to all these star-player maladies, I don’t know if it’ll be funny to the Commish. But I’ll be sure to chortle a bit, hoping he doesn't think he's a clown to me. Hey, all you NBA Cup “contenders”! Might it be too late to sign Christopher Moltisanti to a ten-day, just in case?

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[AtLaS]

L.

 

[lethalweapon3]

You can say that again, Double-D! 

Quote

“We got to come in fighting,” Daniels said. “There’s gonna be tough game up there in Boston, but we’re gonna be ready. There’s gonna be tough game up there in Boston, but we’re gonna be ready. We know how (the Celtics) play. We played them already. So we know what they want to do on defense. We know what they want to do on offense, that and executing a game plan and playing ourselves.”

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Whenever Tatum plays next, as per Celtics GameNotes, he'll need just 13 more points to dip past Tommy "Horford's Not A Star!" Heinsohn for 12th on the Celtics' all-time scoring list.

As for 8th-place on that list, the Hawks' 1956 Draft first-rounder will be posthumously commemorated on Boston's NBA Cup specialty floor:

Ignoring Trae's classic 2023 playoff-game buzzer-beater, Boston seeks to extend their head-to-head regular-season win streak over the Hawks at the Gahden to eight games.  During LP's last hurrah in Atlanta, his last road win on Feb. 17, 2021, was aided by Trae's 40 points (16 in the 4th) and Clint's 24-and-13 (Bogi and Dre were DNPs) against a Brown-and-Tatum duo that somehow had to share the starting lineup with Semi Ojeleye, Tristan Thompson and Javonte Green. Get healthy, Kemba!

 

~lw3

[Gray Mule]

WOW!  You mean there is a chance?  Yep.  ESPN allows that there is a 22.9% chance for a Hawk victory tonight!

For all you parents out there, you have probably sung a song to your baby, like, "Go to sleep, little cowboy, go to sleep."  Soon they were sound asleep, out for a couple of hours.

Let's substitute "Boston Celtics" for little cowboy.  Lull them to sleep.  They awaken in a couple of hours, beaten by Atlanta.

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

The Greek Elf’s foot

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Defensively, Wallace (4 steals and 2 blocks in 20 minutes vs. BOS on Nov. 4) on Jrue Holiday capably allows Dyson Daniels to maintain his disruptive focus on Brown and the Celtics’ array of wings and sharpshooters.

Yes sir!

 

Nice lw3!

Go Hawks!

[TheTruth]

Yoooooooooooo, that opening picture is crazy due to that backstory.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JTB]

Trae out ? 

[JTB]

Ouch! Welp…I was going to watch but with Trae out I will tune in if we have the lead. Can’t imagine what this offense is going to look like a whole game with Trae not playing .

[JayBirdHawk]

5 minutes ago, JTB said:

Ouch! Welp…I was going to watch but with Trae out I will tune in if we have the lead. Can’t imagine what this offense is going to look like a whole game with Trae not playing .

We lack so much ball handling with this lineup. If Boston pressures - yikes.

[JayBirdHawk]

As much as some like to complain about Trae's individual TOs......without him...YIKES!!!

 

 

[ShayD]

17 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

As much as some like to complain about Trae's individual TOs......without him...YIKES!!!

 

 

Was about to comment about this. This is a learning experience for JJ. He is extremely turnover prone, attempting passes that easily get's intercepted. Also has travelling issues. Will be interesting watching how he would handle it today.

[shakes]

Vegas should have a line on who scores more points tonight, Atlanta Hawks or Kansas Jayhawks.

[JayBirdHawk]

We did beat a full strength  Boston team last season without Trae and JJ. Can we be lucky twice in a row?

Hopefully they over look us as they focus on trying to end the Cavs undefeated season. 

 

[terrell]

3 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

Good chance to see what the young guys can do without the ball in Trae's hand most of the time...

I expect a loss, but experience counts too this season...

Edited November 12 by terrell

[terrell]

2 hours ago, JTB said:

Trae out ? 

He has a case of 2pointslastgameitis.....

[macdaddy]

16 minutes ago, terrell said:

He has a case of 2pointslastgameitis.....

So close to a zinger.  except he had 14/16 last game. 

[AHF]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

We did beat a full strength  Boston team last season without Trae and JJ. Can we be lucky twice in a row?

Hopefully they over look us as they focus on trying to end the Cavs undefeated season. 

 

Definitely would not be the first time an undermanned team got overlooked and stepped up.

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, macdaddy said:

So close to a zinger.  except he had 14/16 last game. 

He means vs Boston